Business games

Organisation

Business games offer a simplified but realistic representation of the social and economic climate in which the simulated companies evolve. The simplifications that are made allow the players attention to be drawn towards looking at the fundamental concepts and mechanisms of business life. It is therefore important that the players:

are aware of and accept the rules of the game;

use the handbook and accompanying documents to look for information.

The administrator

Throughout the course of the game the administrator is required to fill a number of roles:

The bank manager: the companies must negotiate loan conditions with the bank manager (interest rate, length, and sum). The bank manager can ask to see additional documentation (predicted balance sheets and income statements).

The adviser: whether in the areas of organisation or marketing, at the demand of the companies studies can be carried out on the market, the competition, reducing costs or quality control.

The authorities: various steps can be taken concerning price control, customs duties and so on.

And in a more general sense, the business partners: such as the consumers association and professional trade unions.

The administrator therefore has to define the scenario by periodically fixing a number of parameters regarding the socio-economic climate, for example:

the level of demand

the sensitivity of marketing mix variables

the maximum percentage of discountable turnover

interest rates

cost of studies

etc...

The game

A game generally takes place over a period of 2 to 3 days.

Each company is represented by a team made up of 3 to 6 players.

A game can place between 5 and 8 companies in competition with each other, supervised by the administrator.

It is possible to organise as many simultaneous games as desired in order to cope with large number of players, even many hundreds.